Very Good to Good
Red Dwarf
The Young Ones (Actually I cannot seem to enjoy it the way I did in the 80s when I occasionally used drugs and drank a lot more. Do you think there is a correlation there?)
Robin’s Nest (I have not seen it it decades, this was the spin off of the show that Three’s company was based on, I thought it was quite funny when I was teen. Robin’s Nest that is, not “Three’s Company” or “Man About the House” )
Funny at times
Blackadder
Benny Hill (really, not on the list at all?)
Yes (Prime) Minister - ditto, especially as the topics of the flaws of a democratic system will perhaps live on longer than anything else
Blackadder - revisitable
Only Fools and Horses - feels like you’ve seen too much of it, but then you encounter an episode that’s new to you, and it’s hilarious all over again
Father Ted - would be the same if there’d been more of it made (but maybe the Fawlty Towers restraint would have been the right thing anyway?) The best are ones I can watch over and over again.
Python - the TV shows were hit-and-miss, the films are the real legacy.
Peep Show - genius, to be watched grimacing, cringeing, through gaps between fingers
The League of Gentlemen - also genius
Brass Eye - ‘totally awesome’ is quite right
Addition: Drop The Dead Donkey - worth seeing if you can find it, for some brilliant writing and performances, although the topical jokes are obviously dated (set in a TV newsroom, each episode was filmed during the week it was broadcast)
The Hall Of Shame: These words should not be spoken in this household - Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, Dad’s Army, The Vicar of Dibley.
Well, it seems people are lopping in sketch comedy with sitcoms, so my picks of British comedies in general would be:
The Office
Coupling (There’s so much about this show I shouldn’t like, but, somehow I do. Except for Season Four, which sucked.)
Brass Eye (I adore Chris Morris, especially his radio stuff, like Blue Jame)
Fawlty Towers (of course)
Monty Python (ditto)
The Fast Show
That Mitchell and Webb Look (I prefer their radio show, but this had its moments.)
The Peep Show
Eh, that’s all I feel like enumerating at this time.
While presumably skewed by non-UK viewing opportunities, most of the OP’s list strikes me as a weirdly anachronistic selection of candidates. Aside from:
Fawlty Towers
Blackadder
Father Ted
Dad’s Army
Only Fools and Horses
and excluding Ripping Yarns and a few other suggestions as not a sitcom, I’d nominate (not necessarily for the first time in this thread) any of the following 10 as probably better than the rest of the list. In alphabetical order:
Black Books
Coupling
Hancock
The Office
Peep Show
Porridge
Spaced
Steptoe and Son
The Thick of It
Yes Minister/Prime Minister
Even then that’s probably skewed towards recent hits. A bit of me thinks that Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads and some Johnny Speight ought also to be in there.
On the Buses
Some Mothers do 'Ave 'Em
Doctor in the House
I enjoyed these shows as a kid, even though I realized they were pretty much god awful. I have a few tapes of On the Buses and Doctor, and man, are they bad. They’re just atrocious. The production values of Doctor are horrendous, the plots are sometimes terrifying, the attitudes of the male characters (apart from Upton) make your eyes water. On the Buses is sometimes worse. The amount of abuse doled out to poor Olive just doesn’t seem very funny anymore.
Abuse in comedy is a strange thing, and ages poorly. Watching The Office and seeing Gareth treated poorly because he’s an annoying, pencil-necked toady is funny – for now. But watching Olive get insulted almost relentlessly because she’s a thick, clinging pita isn’t funny anymore – although it was back then.
Anyway, my favorites:
The Office
Farty Towels
Father Ted
Extras
Since everyone added non-sitcoms as well, I’d throw in Little Britain and League of Gentlemen, and some of Ballykissangel and Mapp & Lucia.
My list (no order):
Fawlty Towers
Blackadder
Keeping Up Appearances
Father Ted
The Vicar of Dibley
Added:
Black Books
The IT Crowd
The Office
Spaced
And I’d like to nominate Darkplace (or Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace). It’s got the actors who play Moss and Douglas from The IT Crowd, and Simon the computer guy from The Office.
Seconded (or thirded) on Black Books. Not only is Bill Bailey a scream, Dylan Moran has genius comic timing. Run Fatboy Run was uneven, but the best joke in the whole film was Moran’s pause before replying “It’s sterilized”. It’s right up there was Christopher Guest’s Nigel Tufnel pausing before replying “These go to eleven.”
I’m impressed with the number of comedies “subbed in” on everyone’s lists. I realize I left many out from my original list; most are due to not seeing the shows in question, and a few (like Yes Minister/Prime Minister ) are just forgetfulness on my part.
I appreciate the input on the shows I left out; I’ve done some research on them and a lot of them look like something I’d enjoy, especially One Foot in the Grave and Spaced . Do any of them currently run on BBCA? Or are any available on iTunes? I’d like to sample them before making any kind of major financial commitment.
Coupling – Gadarene’s right. It’s absolutely brilliant!
'Allo, 'Allo
Yes (Prime) Minister
As Time Goes By
The Vicar of Dibley
Keeping Up Appearances
Blackadder
Are You Being Served?
Fawlty Towers
